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Psychology AQA Paper 2 Summary Notes
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Psychology AQA Paper 2 Summary Notes
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Psychology Paper 2 Quick NotesApproaches
Origins of psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of human mind and function affecting behaviour in context.
First lab dedicated to psychological enquiry opened 1879 G by Wundt. Used introspection (method used to study
mind by breaking conscious awareness into thoughts, images, sensations. Controlled conditions.
Systematic well controlled in lab. Relied on self-reporting – subjective.
Aim of science to discover general laws. Behaviourists – Cognitive - Biological. Modern psychology can claim to be
scientific – controlled and objective measures. Humanistic not objective. Kuhn rejected psych as science as must
have paradigm.
Behaviourist approach
Studies observable behaviours.
Classical conditioning learning through association. Pavlov’s dogs. Food UCS = Saliva UCR Bell NS + Food UCS =
Saliva UCR Bell CS = Saliva CR.
Skinner suggested learning active process. Skinner boxes. Rat rewarded with food when activate lever. Behaviour is
reinforced. Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment.
Extraneous variables removed – cause and effect. don’t account for human thought.
Real-world. Token economy systems.
Environmental determinism. Ignores possibility of free will.
Animals treated badly and kept below healthy weight to encourage engagement.
Social Learning Theory
Behaviour is learnt from imitation and copying others. Learner can observe and imitate behaviour if consequences
are positive, vicarious reinforcement.
4 mediational processes – Attention (extent to which we notice certain behaviours), retention (how well the
behaviour is remembered), motor reproduction (ability of the observer to perform the behaviour), motivation (will
to perform the behaviour, often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished.
Especially likely to imitate someone they identify with or admire.
Bandura bobo doll.
Recognises cognitive factors – better understanding than behaviourist. Lacks biological explanation. Mirror neurons.
Lab studies create demand characteristics.
Real-world application. Explains why behaviours differ in throughout societies and cultures.
Reciprocal determinism. Some free will in the way we behave.
Cognitive approach
Focused on how behaviours are influenced by mental processes. Contrasts the behaviourist approach as argues
mental processes studied scientifically. Memory, perception, and thinking.
Soft determinism views internal and external factors and recognises free will.
Can be influenced by a person’s beliefs or expectations. Schema. Formed through experience.
Theoretical model compares brain to computer. Input, storage and retrieval.
Computer models involve programming computer to see if instructions produce similar output.
Cognitive neuroscience. Advances in brain imaging give observable and objective techniques.
Some forms of study rely on inference. Lab studies too artificial. Lack validity.
Most widely used approach. Development of AI. Replicating human behaviour in thinking machines.
Treatment due to principles established by cognitive approach.
Machine reductionism. Comparisons to computers don’t take into account human emotion.
Biological approach
In order to understand behaviour must first look at biological structures and processes.
Neurochemistry. Imbalance of neurochemicals linked to serious mental disorders.
Twin studies show concordance rates higher in identical twins. Inherited characteristics genotypes. Phenotypes
environmental characteristics. Behaviour depends on both nature and nurture.
Natural selection by Darwin proposed genetic behaviour that enhanced survival continues.
Real-world. Treatment for mental disorders due to understanding of neurochemicals. Psychoactive drugs not
effective for everyone. Disorder due to other factors.
Scientific methods. Scanning techniques highly objective.
Natural selection cannot be falsified
Biological determinism. Ignored external factors or human decisions. Can criminals actions be put down to biology?
, Psychodynamic approach
Different unconscious forces that operate the mind and direct behaviour. Freud.
Unconscious mind is vast storehouse of biological instinct which influences behaviour. Contains suppressed
memories which arise through dreams or slips of the tongue. Preconscious stores accessible memories.
Personality: Id (primitive part acts on drive), ego (mediator uses defence mechanisms. Repression, denial,
displacement – 2 years), superego (morality principles – 5 years).
Child development occurred in psychosexual stages progression must be made or fixations occur. Oral (0-1), anal (1-
3), phallic (3-6), latency and genital. Oral is the focus of pleasure in the mouth and can lead to oral fixations e.g.
smoking. Anal is the focus on a child gaining pleasure from expelling and withholding faeces and can lead to
thoughtless or obsessive behaviors. Phallic is the focus of pleasure in the genital area and can lead to a phallic
personality. Latency is when any of these are repressed. Genital is when sexual desires become conscious and can
lead to an inability to form heterosexual relationships.
First forms of treatment involved psychoanalysis. Basis of modern therapies.
Freudian therapy not effective for those struggle to articulate thoughts e.g., schizophrenia.
Psychic determinism. Dismisses any possibility of free will.
Psychic determinism makes it impossible to test. Freud relied on case studies. Pseudoscientific.
Understanding other psychological ideas. Shows important links of childhood.
Humanistic approach
Based on subjective experience. Emphasises idea of self-determination. Are all unique and psychology should not be
based on general law. Person-centred approach.
Maslow. To achieve primary goal: physiological, safety, love, and self-esteem must first be met. Primary goal known
as self-actualisation. Involved in personal development.
Rogers. Concept of self must be congruent with ideal self for growth to occur. Client centred therapy developed to
help people cope with every day. Believed that a lack of positive regard during childhood formed problems in adult
life. Therapy gives clients this.
Limited in modern psychology. Not a comprehensive theory. Only treat mild psychological conditions.
Useful in development of client-centred therapies. Counselling skills.
Avoids reductionism. More validity in real-world application.
Approaches that use reductionism more scientific. Cannot be measured or explained scientifically.
Cultural bias. Centred around individualism.
Class bias. Easier for people who are more privileged to work on self-growth.
Optimism promotes positivity. Unlike psychodynamic “we all exist somewhere between unhappiness and absolute
despair”.
Biopsychology
Nervous system
Specialised network of cells. Primary internal communication system. Collects, processes, responds to info.
Coordinates working of organs and cells.
Subsystems: central nervous system –Brain is centre of consciousness. Cerebral cortex is outer layer. Highly
developed higher functions. Spinal cord extension. Passes message to brain, connects nerves to PNS.
Peripheral nervous system – transports messages to and from CNS. Autonomic nervous system governs vital
functions e.g., breathing heart rate. Somatic nervous system governs muscle movement.
Endocrine system
Works with NS to control body function. Uses hormones. Most hormones effective in more than one organ.
Thyroxine produced by thyroid increases heart rate and metabolic rate. ‘Master gland’ pituitary gland, controls
release of all hormones.
Fight or flight – endocrine and ANS. Stressor perceived. Hypothalamus activates pituitary gland. ANS physiologically
arouse sympathetic state. adrenaline released into blood. Physiological changes. Acute response, automatic
reactions. Increase heart rate, breathing, dilated pupils, stops digestions, contracts rectum. Parasympathetic
reaction happens once threat passes. Body returns to natural state.
Neurons
100 billion in NS. 80% brain. Sensor (PNS cluster ganglia), relay (97% brain), motor (forms PNS). 1mm-1m.
Cell body contains nucleus. Dendrites protrude from cell body and carry nerve impulses to cell body. Axon carries
impulses from cell body covered in myelin sheath fatty layer protects and speeds up electrical transmission.
Segmented by nodes of Ranvier. Terminal buttons communicate with next neuron across synapse.
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